Robotic swimmer with supple silicone web mimics octopus
Highlighting this month's news of developments in marine robotics: Researchers from the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas in Greece have worked out a way to mimic the movements of an octopus. The robot, which swims and crawls, is inspired by the morphology and very able locomotor capabilities of the octopus. The octopus of their creation, which is being described by various sites as the octobot or "robotic swimmer," among other terms, propels itself underwater either alone of interconnected via a passively compliant web, said the team. Their study, "Multi-Arm Robotic Swimming with Octopus-Inspired Compliant Web," was prepared for this year's IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems in Chicago. They used flexible silicone webbing, which served them well. The authors said, "Speeds of 0.5 body lengths per second and propulsive forces of up to 10.5 N were achieved, with a cost of transport as low as 0.62."